The Villainess is Retiring

Chapter 10

Cassian’s question hung in the air as he looked at me with wide eyes. I tilted my head nonchalantly.

“No, I didn’t push you. You saw me, didn’t you? I didn’t move at all.”

Everything I said was the truth.

Harry shoved him, not me.

I shrugged my shoulders with confidence as I asked, “How could a frail woman like me throw a strong man like you to the ground?”

Everia was tall, but her frame was slender. By all accounts, she didn’t have the strength to throw a grown man around.

“I see. Right. But then who...? Someone definitely grabbed me by the head.”

Cassian sounded confused and rubbed the back of his head. He was sure someone had pushed him to the ground, but no one else was in the room.

“Excuse me, but can we just continue our conversation?”

He shook his head as he got up from the floor. Feeling embarrassed, he cleared his throat a few times.

“You always begged me to hold your hand, or hug you, or kiss you... I’m telling you that I can still do those things for you. Isn’t that a good offer? Don’t you desperately want me to?”

Even though his proposal sounded ridiculous, he looked relaxed.

Everia’s affection for him must have been very strong.

He was taking advantage of her desperate, one-sided love and acting as if he had the upper hand. In truth, he was the one who needed her help. He was free to think that she still had feelings for him, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable if he got close to me like that again.

It’s annoying how he’s acting so smug because he’s drunk off the power he has over her.

It was necessary to let him know that the situation had changed.

“Your Highness,” I said with a smile. “Did you think I would be happy with your offer?”

“Isn’t it a good deal from your point of view? You've asked for a kiss in return for a favor in the past.”

Did you really do that, Everia?!

My smile cracked. Everia’s story wasn’t covered much in the novel. I didn’t know those things were going on in the background because she only appeared in scenes where she was harassing Kathryn.

That sounds like a pretty important incident too. The book should’ve covered that!

I got upset for a moment, but I quickly realized that although it seemed important from my point of view, to readers, Everia was just a side character.

In the end, the most important thing in a novel is the main characters’ story. A story needs to be told within a certain number of chapters, so in order to fit everything in, the side characters’ stories have to be thoroughly pruned.

Everia’s story was like a stray branch that got trimmed, so to speak.

Right. I’ve known from the start that I’m just a side character.

I suddenly understood why Cassian was so confident even while making such an outrageous proposal. They had made a similar deal in the past and that’s why he could spew that crap with such confidence.

That’s all in the past.

But wasn’t it strange that he thought things would be the same as before? Our engagement was called off because he cheated. I couldn’t imagine how embarrassingly Everia must have clung to him. Not only were they engaged, but she had helped him with his efforts to ascend the throne. She was always so desperate to win his affection.

I looked at Cassian’s relaxed face and clicked my tongue. I almost hated him. He didn’t seem capable of reading the situation or caring about the feelings of others. Did he even appreciate Everia’s affection for him?

Of course not. I couldn’t believe someone like him would become the future king because he was the male lead of the novel.

Will the kingdom survive? Will the novel still end well?

“Eve.”

I was expressing my deep condolences to the people of the kingdom and the readers of the novel when Cassian suddenly called out to me.

“Our engagement was a deal. I was going to be your husband, and you were going to give me power. Nothing’s changed. The only thing that’s different is what I can give you.”

“I see.”

“Right, s—”

“No.”

“Pardon?”

“I don’t accept your deal.”

“But why not?”

“Because what I’d get out of it doesn’t interest me.”

Cassian stiffened as if he hadn’t expected me to reject his offer. He stared into my eyes and tried to understand my intentions, then let out a chuckle as if he understood the situation.

“Your negotiation skills have improved. Is there something else you want? Do you wish to be my mistress or something?”

“No.”

“Then you still want to be my wife, don’t you? I thought I made it clear that isn’t possible.”

“Good. I don’t want that either.”

“I don’t understand. What do you want?”

“It’s simple. I’d like for Your Highness to turn around, walk forward bravely, and keep walking until you reach the capital. Never show your face around me again! Wow, doesn’t that sound easy?”

I was talking in the same tone I would use with a kindergartener. Well, maybe not exactly, but I was trying my best to. I used simple terms and spoke in an overly kind manner, so unless he was a total idiot, he had to understand what I was saying.

“So... you want me to go back? You don’t want this deal?”

“Wow... I see you finally understand what I’ve been trying to say all along.”

Luckily, he’s not a complete idiot.

I smiled happily and waved my hand.

“Well then, will you get a move on? Turn around and don’t stop walking until you reach the capital.”

But he didn’t budge.

“Why?” he asked quietly. His lips twitched with confusion for a moment before he finally spoke again. “Why don’t you want this deal?”

“That’s simple. You know what a deal is, right? If Your Highness had something I wanted, like how I have something Your Highness wants, we could happily make an exchange. Unfortunately, what you’re offering doesn’t interest me.”

“But... you’re in love with me, aren’t you? You always clung to me and begged me to pay attention to you.”

“Yes, I felt that way in the past, but I don’t anymore.”

“How can that be? How could your feelings change so easily?”

Cassian grabbed his head to show that he really didn't understand. He was mumbling to himself, so I cut him off as I shrugged.

“Hey, yours did too.”

“My what?”

“You also had a sudden change of heart. You fell in love with someone else overnight. It goes both ways, you know. People fall out of love too. The heart is fickle like that. Nothing lasts forever.”

“But that...”

He was shocked. He probably never thought Everia Oberon would fall out of love with him.

Well, if I hadn’t become her, he would have been right.

After all, that was the role she was created to play.

Too bad. I’m not that Everia anymore.

“Making a deal with me is impossible. You can’t give me what I want because I already have everything I need.”

What I wanted was an easy life of luxury. And as the duke’s daughter, Everia already had everything for that kind of life. No one in this world would be able to negotiate with me.

“In light of that, if you want something I have, you should beg,” I said.

“‘Beg’?”

“Shouldn’t you? You want something from me, but you have nothing to offer. The only thing left to do is to appeal to my better nature, right? People call that begging.”

I sneered as Cassian clenched his fists, then continued to goad him. “But a noble crown prince wouldn’t do such a lowly thing, would he?”

Ever since he had been named the crown prince as a boy, he only received praise from everyone around him. He had probably never even been insulted before.

“Lady Oberon, do you know that insulting the royal family is a serious crime?”

“Why do you ask? Are you going to accuse me of insulting the royal family? Then House Oberon would completely turn our backs on you. Are you sure you want to do that?”

Of course, he didn’t. Cassian’s faction desperately needed the support of House Oberon, so he needed to be careful not to piss off my family.

“Besides, there are no witnesses, are there? Even if you’re royalty, you cannot accuse a member of House Oberon without any evidence.”

Because he wanted to have a meeting in secret, everyone had been sent away. Even the two knights who had escorted him to Airelle were standing outside the door where they couldn't hear us.

“Oh, since no one is here to see you, would you like to try begging? Who knows? Perhaps I might change my mind. The heart is fickle like that.”

I kept weaving in the fact that he had cheated on Everia into the conversation. A really dense person wouldn’t have picked up on that, but luckily, Cassian caught on to what I was implying. Noticing the subtle dig, he looked at me with a hardened expression.

“It doesn’t seem like today is a good day for this conversation. I shall return to the capital for now.”

“All right. I won’t see you out.”

I curtsied to him, then watched as he turned around with his lips shut tight. When Cassian violently opened the door, the knights greeted him with dignified looks on their faces.

[Harry.]

I looked at the back of Cassian’s head as I telepathically spoke to Harry. It was as if he’d been waiting for that moment the whole time.

[You want me to kill him, right? Right?! How should I do it?]

[Is killing all you ever think about?]

[Naturally. I’m a demon after all.]

[Well, that’s a good point, b—]

[Let’s just kill him. Talking to him is so annoying and cumbersome, don’t you think?]

[He is annoying but killing him would create more headaches. Just trip him for me. I’d like to see him fall over hard.]

[That’s it? You should kill him and see some blood.]

[On second thought, Harry, maybe I should wish for you to stare at the wa—]

[Aaah! I’ll trip him right now! I’ll knock him down!]

Harry stopped me with a shriek, then sprinted away in an instant. A translucent ball of light approached Cassian from behind and forcefully bumped into the back of his knee. The impact was so strong that I could clearly see his leg give way.

“Ack!”

He dropped to his knees and fell to the floor. The fall was so violent that both knights and Emma simply stared at him in wide-eyed shock. It happened so quickly that everyone just stood there with their mouths hanging open.

Cassian had the same expression. He was face down on the floor in a daze and was confused.

“Y-Your Highness!”

One of the knights called out to him in a panic before helping him up. He stumbled to his feet with a blank look on his face. His pure white clothes were rumpled, and he looked shabbier than when he had first arrived.

“Oh my, Your Highness!” I deliberately raised my voice as I ran out the door. “Things must be tough for you these days. First, your legs suddenly gave out in the room and now it happened again out here.”

I shook my head with a worried expression for good measure.

“How stressed you must be to have such a weak lower body. When you return to the capital, you should take some medicine. Something to help you regain strength in your lower body.”

[Hey. You’re saying it in a worried tone, but you’re actually doing him more harm than good. Do you know how sensitive men are about their... ‘lower bodies’?]

Even Harry, who just talked about killing Cassian, was looking at him with pity in his eyes. It was the same for the others. Everyone in the room was looking at his lower body with pity.

I smiled brightly and delivered the final blow.

“Cheer up, Your Highness. Having a weak lower body is not the end of the world!”

* * *

Cassian bit his lip while sitting in the carriage back to the capital. He felt so dejected returning without any results, and he felt like his body would sink into the ground. It wasn’t the ending he had expected when he first arrived in Airelle.

Cassian Geraint had indeed underestimated Everia Oberon. She used to do anything for him if he asked nicely with a smile. He thought it would be the same that time as well.

All she ever did was clutch her skirt and ask me to kiss her.

Up until then, he had faithfully complied with her requests. They were engaged, so it was a natural thing for him to do. He considered it his duty as her fiancé.

It was a cheap price to pay in exchange for the support he received for his succession to the throne. It was a great fortune that such a good deal had fallen into his lap. His mother agreed too. She said it was a good thing that Everia liked him instead of Lydon and often told him to hang on to her.

When he fell in love with Kathryn and informed his fiancée that their engagement was over, he wasn’t all that worried because she was Everia Oberon. She was so in love with him that whenever she saw him, her cheeks turned red and she couldn’t even meet his gaze. He thought if he were to get close to her and coax her, she would easily agree to help him.

She’s completely changed.

Cassian recalled how she had looked straight at him. In fact, she didn’t even blush.

Is she really not in love with me anymore?

He had taken her love for granted and never appreciated the love she had for him. It didn’t feel good to have something he thought he had in the palm of his hand suddenly taken away. After all, Everia’s love was strategically important to him.